


Call the Night by Name

by EradiKate



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Implied/Referenced Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-22 15:14:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17664965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EradiKate/pseuds/EradiKate
Summary: Kit Shepard is a soldier with an order.  Inspired by the song "Younger" by The Mountain Goats.





	Call the Night by Name

Kit didn’t know what time it was, nor how long it had been since they’d landed in London.  Soot and ships stained the sky, darkening it to perpetual twilight broken only by weapons fire and burning buildings, grotesque torches in the smog.  The backup wasn’t coming.

 

Vega was down, Garrus was bleeding.  She couldn’t wait for them and she knew that if something didn’t change soon, Vega would only be the first casualty.  The beam was in sight, the pulsating blue light calling to her. She could run to it, she was almost sure.

 

All of the planning, pleading, working, and fighting led to this moment.  The compromises that had kept her awake at nights and the threats of failure pressed at her even more urgently now.  She wiped her mouth and realized she was tasting copper blood, warm and bitter, streaks of it on her gauntlet. It was too much.  Thessia had fallen, Palaven ravaged, now Earth and the rest of the galaxy at large to crumble unless she, Shepard, could single-handedly stop the Reapers.

 

A soldier couldn’t lose sight of the mission, no matter how distant victory seemed.  A soldier didn’t leave a comrade behind, no matter how many enemies loomed. She fingered the cyanide capsule she’d stolen, once a precaution against being taken by the Collectors and later a symbol of the life she’d lost over Alchera.  Just because she couldn’t take them with her didn’t mean she would leave them alone.

 

Her decision made, she knelt at Vega’s side and shoved the pill into Garrus’ hand.  “Normandy,” she barked, dehydration and stress tearing her voice into something unrecognizable, “get to my position.  Vega’s down and I need an evac, now!”

 

Joker’s response through the static sounded vaguely affirmative and she turned to Garrus.  “They’re coming. If anyone can make it here, it’s Joker. This--this is poison. Don’t let them take you alive, don’t let them indoctrinate you.”

 

His jaw clenched.  “Shepard, you don’t have to do this.”

 

“You know I do, Garrus.”  Kit gestured at the ruin of the city.  “We’re falling apart, this is our last chance.  You called it the ruthless calculus of war, looks like I’m one of the numbers.”  She hauled one of Vega’s arms over her shoulder as the Normandy descended. “Help me, please.  Take him and go.”

 

Together they lifted their friend, who moaned painfully before slipping into unconsciousness.  The hold hissed open, Kaidan ready to help the wounded Vega on board. Once he was safely away, Kit looked back, catching the full force of Garrus’ eyes.  “You’ve got to be kidding.”

 

“Don’t argue, Garrus.”

 

“Then come back alive.”

 

She stepped closer and lifted a hand to his face.  “You know I love you. I always will.”

 

Garrus leaned into her palm.  “I love you too, Kit.”

 

Kit tore away, breaking another piece of herself off.  I have to do this, she thought as she charged down the hill to the beam.  If I don’t, no one else will.


End file.
